Slamboree 2000

A Family Get-Together

One of the most hospitable shows we've attended took place just this past show season in Oklahoma City. In the past, we've attended shows that were held in the Midwest, and there's always a great feeling of acceptance when we've been there. This was the first time we'd had the opportunity to attend Slamboree. Pleasures Trucks and Compacts, a custom vehicle club based in OKC, has been putting on their show now for several years. By the time we finally made it out to their show last year, they'd already put on six of them. Although we were definitely late to the game on the event, it was apparent that they were doing something great for the Midwest with one of the most enjoyable shows and hospitable environments we've ever been in.

Slamboree 2000 was an event that was planned to have not only a little of something for everyone, but it seemed that everyone who showed up gave a bit of themselves to make the event that much better. When we arrived on Friday, everyone we met was ready for the event and excited about the show in general. By the time Saturday morning arrived, the line of vehicles wishing to enter the event was long and moving rapidly into the show area inside the Oklahoma State Fairgrounds. We served as part-time auto detailers on Saturday morning for a friend whose vehicle had just gotten out of the shop; the feeling of show camaraderie was ever-present. The Pleasures staff allowed us to pass by the long line of show hopefuls and enter the gates to set up the Honda. The sooner we had the car ready to show, the sooner we could get the photos we needed to take to get the event captured on film.

From the time that the show area was beginning to fill up to the time that registration ended, it was apparent that this was to be no ordinary truck show. There was so much pent-up enthusiasm at the event, you could almost smell it. While we walked the show, we saw much of the Midwest's finest lined up for the scrutiny of Slamboree's show judges. Many of those who judge the event aren't only proud members of Pleasures, but are actively involved with the area of interest they're judging. Body and paint guys judge paint categories; performance shop owners look over the racy compacts; and custom shop guys gravitate toward the objects they desire -- badass minis. Seeing what these judges had to decide upon was a task that no one else at the show would have wanted to have. They had to discern between the cream and ultra-cream of the crop that make their presence severely felt all over the central parts of our nation.

After the show had ended for Saturday, most of those at the Fairgrounds left to get cleaned up for the after-hours festivities that would occur after sundown. When our group got back to the State Fair at about 9 p.m., we were greeted with a huge DJ setup that had more than 300 people kicking dust and carousing with one another. The feeling of togetherness that we felt first thing that morning was still going strong. From what we heard later, that party lasted well into the early hours of the morning. Since we still had the better part of a full day ahead of us, we decided that sleep must be had to keep ourselves focused.

Sunday morning, the entrants to Slamboree 2000 showed up just a little later than they had the previous morning. It seemed that not everyone could pull a 48-hour-or-longer shift of partying without needing some sort of break. By about noon though, the park was just as filled as it had been the day before, and amazingly enough, people were even closer to one another than they were the day before. With new friends at Slamboree from one side of the event to the other, you couldn't help but feel like you were at the one place that made you feel like you belonged there. When the awards ceremony began around 3:30 p.m., those first-timers at Slamboree saw one of the truly great things about the show -- Pleasures' killer trophies. Pleasures makes its trophies from acrylic that looks like a see-through custom wheel mounted to a base. If you were lucky enough to win the Best Truck or Car award, then you were in for a treat. The Best of Truck award is made from a Budnik billet wheel, while the Best of Car award is made from another custom wheel.

If everything else that we'd seen hadn't won us over, then the reason why Pleasures hosts Slamboree surely did. We didn't know until now that the proceeds of the event are given to help the American Diabetes Association. It's hard to believe that you can have this much fun and still be helpful to others in need. Pleasures wishes to thank its important sponsors for their dedication to the progress of the mini-truckin' lifestyle and of its event. The following companies helped to make Slamboree a huge success: Budnik Wheels, Oklahoma Eastern County FOP, Extreme Audio, Hooters, Sound Lab, O'Reilly's Audio Extreme, Sinister Motor-sports, and LWM Enterprises. The MT staff highly recommends that you haul your bones to the 8th Annual Slamboree. It would be a pleasure to see you there. For more information on this awesome gathering of friends (both old and new) in August of 2001, please contact Kevin Blackshere, (405) 209-6960, or Jimmie Broyles, (405) 364-4048, or on the Web, www.pleasuresonline.com.